In
our last lesson, we went through the basic form elements
you would find in most forms. However, they were by
no means all of them.
Forms
can be used to gather almost ANY information you desire,
and there are form elements to accomodate most anything.
Let's
continue with some of the more advanced tag elements:
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The INPUT tag is not the only tag that
can be used to create form elements. In this section we
will cover advanced form elements, such as Textboxes,
Selection Lists, and Buttons. These form tags greatly
increase your form building flexibility on how you collect
your data, or present your forms.
Multi-line Text Boxes
Multi-line text or comment boxes allow
users to enter a large amount of text into a form.
Multi-line text boxes are created within
the FORM using the <TEXTAREA> tag and the closing
</TEXTAREA> tag.
The TEXTAREA tag has four attributes:
NAME
attribute:
The
NAME attribute is required. It uniquely identifies the
user's input with the correct form element.
COLS
& ROWS:
You
should include the COLS & ROWS attributes to define
the size of your TEXTAREA because most browsers only
display a very small box by default.
Wrap:
The
WRAP attribute prevents the text from scrolling to the
right as the user enters information into the textbox.
It makes the input much easier for the user to review
on the screen before submitting the information. Note:
Internet Explorer automatically 'word-wraps' the text
in the textbox. Netscape does not.
Default
Text:
Any
text added between the opening and closing TEXTAREA
tags will be display in the text box by default like
in the example below:
<TEXTAREA
NAME="Comments" COLS=30 ROWS=5 WRAP=PHYSICAL>
Enter your comments here.
</TEXTAREA>
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Drop
Down Lists give users a menu or pull-down menu of options
to select from. To create a selection list, you use the
<SELECT> tag and its required </SELECT> closing
tag. The SELECT tag can have three possible attributes:
MULTIPLE, NAME, and SIZE. Only the NAME attribute is required.
Attribute
Description
NAME
The
NAME attribute is required. It identifies the selection
to the server or form processing application.
MULTIPLE
Enables
viewers to select more than one item in a selection
list. If the MULTIPLE attribute is not added, the
viewer can only select one item.
SIZE
Indicates
how many selections display in the list window at
one time.
OPTION
Tag:
To
add items to the selection list, you use the <OPTION>
tag. The OPTION tag does not have a closing tag.
Examples:
<SELECT
NAME="Cars"> <OPTION>SUV Info <OPTION>Minivans
Info <OPTION>Sports Cars <OPTION>Hummers
<OPTION>Pickup Trucks </SELECT>
SIZE
Attribute:
Adding
a SIZE attribute to the SELECT tag defines how many items
will be displayed at once. A scroll bar is added if there
are more items that are not visible. In the example below,
the SIZE is set to 3 but there are 5 items in the list.
The last 2 items are visible by scrolling.
<SELECT
NAME="Cars" SIZE=3>
<OPTION>SUV Info
<OPTION>Minivans Info
<OPTION>Sports Cars
<OPTION>Hummers
<OPTION>Pickup Trucks </SELECT>
MULTIPLE
Attribute:
Adding a MULTIPLE attribute to the SELECT
tag will allow the viewer to select more than one option
from the list.
<SELECT
NAME="Cars" SIZE=5 MULTIPLE>
<OPTION>SUV Info
<OPTION>Minivans Info
<OPTION>Sports Cars
<OPTION>Hummers
<OPTION>Pickup Trucks </SELECT>
To
select multiple items, hold down the shift key to select
consecutive items, or hold down the 'Ctrl' key to select
items that are not consecutive.
Pre-Selected
Items:
You can have one value from the list selected
by default. Simply add the SELECTED attribute to the OPTION
tag.
<SELECT
NAME="Cars" SIZE=5 MULTIPLE>
<OPTION SELECTED>SUV Info
<OPTION>Minivans Info
<OPTION>Sports Cars
<OPTION>Hummers
<OPTION>Pickup Trucks </SELECT>
End
of Part 2
Our
next lesson will focus on the design and layout of your
forms. Until then, practice what you've learned.
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Tired of paying others to install your scripts for you?
Are you interested in telling your script installer to "Take a hike!"?
Then you need Install Your Own Scripts. The new ebook from script installer Michael Ambrosio. It's Jam-Packed with extremely easy to follow step-by-step script installation lessons.
And you learn by actually installing THREE different scripts!